Title: The Stars on Fire

By Nopporn Wongrassamee

Summary: Firefly/BSG. It's the Big Damn Heroes to the rescue. Sort of.

Disclaimer: All properties belong to their respective owners who I am too lazy to look up and list.

Chapter 2: Answering a Prayer

River Tam sat at the co-pilot's station on the bridge of Serenity. River was Serenity's pilot (or pilot in training depending on who in the crew was asked), but all she was really doing right now was stargazing. The small cargo hauler was currently on automatic pilot, not really needing the input of any human until they reached their destination. River just liked to look at the stars.

River suddenly cocked her head, as if listening to something only she could hear.

"Artemis? Athena?" Kara said out loud into the void. Other people prayed to their gods. Kara Thrace had long since decided it was better to be up front and honest with her own deities. "You know how I keep asking not to be stranded in the middle of nowhere? Thanks a lot!"

Kara took a deep breath. Insulting one's patron deities might not be the smartest idea, but Kara had always been one to tell her superiors what she truly thought about them. It got her into trouble from her human superiors too.

"Sorry, about that," Kara continued. "I just have some pent up frustrations here. And I would really appreciate it if you guys could arrange for a miracle? A rescue would be nice."

"River, where are we going?" Mal Reynolds, captain and owner of Serenity, asked his pilot. He pointed at the navigation screen. "Now I ain't no expert, but that sure don't look like the course to Boros."

"Riding to the rescue, Captain," River replied.

"Out there?" Mal said skeptically. "There's all manner of Alliance ships out there hunting Reavers. I ain't keen on running into either one." He paused then added, "Again."

Their little broadwave about the Reaver's origins had started all manner of political ruckus. While accusations and denials flew back and forth in Parliament, the military high command had decided to save some face by finally deploying ships to hunt down Reavers. They had found precious few Reaver ships, leading some to wonder if most of the Reavers had been destroyed at the battle over Mr. Universe's moon. More to the point in Mal's mind was that ships out hunting Reavers weren't ships busy trying to enforce silly trade laws. It was practically the golden age of smuggling.

Assuming you weren't flying right into the Alliance's sights, which River seemed intent on doing.

"But aren't we the big heroes, Captain?" River asked, going all doe-eyed at him.

Gorramit, Mal thought, she must be taking lessons from Kaylee. "That Miranda thing was a matter of principle, little Albatross," Mal told her. "Plus it got the Alliance off our backs. This… this is just asking for trouble. The area is swarming with all manner of Alliance ships. I'm sure one of them can do the rescuing."

"Dead ship, no power," River replied. Her eyes wemt unfocused as her mind wandered far away. "Living on canned air and a prayer. No other ship can even see or hear her." Her eyes focused on Mal. "If you were in her position, wouldn't you want a rescue?" she asked pointedly.

Mal grunted as if shot in the belly. Because, really, he had been shot in the belly when in the very same situation. If that weren't no cause for empathy, then he was a dead stone rock. And no matter how hard he tried to be like one, he was no rock.

"Alright," he said finally. "Let's go rescue your little lost sheep. But stay clear of any Alliance and Reavers if you can, dong ma?"

"Dong ma."

Kara had tried getting her ship restarted. She had even cracked her canopy and crawled outside to see if she could manually restart something. Unfortunately, she found that she couldn't get any of the access panels open. The Blackbird had been built by a mechanic and it showed; she needed frakking screwdrivers to get the panels off.

She would have kicked the little ship in frustration, but that would have sent her hurtling away into the void. Although given her situation, Kara thought that might actually increase her chances of being found and rescued.

Oh, and she was almost out of air. Where was a handy, brain dead Cylon Raider when she needed one?

"Okay, Lords?" Kara said to the empty void. Sure she was using her air up faster, but what difference were a few minutes going to make? "I really could use a rescue right about now. Would a straight up divine intervention be too much to ask for?"

Suddenly, Kara and the Blackbird were bathed in light.

"What kinda ship is that?" Jayne Cobb asked. Even bathed in Serenity's spotlights, the little ship was almost impossible to make out, visible only because its bulk blotted out the stars behind it. The little figure in the bronze space suit floating beside it was infinitely more visible.

The crew had gathered on the bridge when River announced that they had reached the general area. There had been a disconcerting about of debris around, identifiable only as the remains of a Reaver ship by the red paint on a stretch of hull fragment. It made most of them nervous. Unperturbed, River had just nonchalantly weaved Serenity through the junk straight to the stranded vessel.

"It's a spy ship," Mal replied with certainty. "The black, carbon composite that makes up her outsides also makes it invisible to radar and even the naked eye out here in the Black."

"Huh, sounds like something you'd want to put on a gunship or something," Jayne observed. Though no expert on ships, the big mercenary knew about fighting. Not being seen while you shot something up was an advantage he could appreciate.

"No point," Kaylee said. "Composite's all fine if'n you don't want to be seen, but it's crappy for anything else. A few entries into atmo, and you'd burn all that stuff right off. You'd be forever gluing the stuff back on." She was the ship's mechanic. She knew this sort of thing.

"Still, it makes sense that the Alliance would be using 'em," Zoë added. She was Mal's second in command of their little boat. "They'd help sniff out Reavers and whistle up reinforcements when they find 'em. But," she pointed at the pilot out there, "that ain't no Alliance uniform I ever heard of."

"Little coffee girl got lost," River said as if in answer. "Her world got blown up by toasters and now she's looking for a childhood fairy-tale."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"River, have you been taking for medication?" Simon Tam, River's brother, asked doubtfully. He was also Serenity's overtrained medic.

"I'm fine, Simon," River replied with a roll of her eyes and a tone of voice that implied that her brother was being stupid.

They all knew River was some kind of psychic, able to seemingly pluck information out of the Black. However, due to unethical government types playing around in her brain, most of what she relayed back about what she sensed came out as garbled nonsense. She had gotten better since Miranda, but she still had her moments.

Still, her statement might make sense once they figured out what she was talking about. But Mal really didn't feel like taking the time to decipher Riverisms right now. He had more important things to do. Rescuing stranded pilots came to mind.

"Okay, we're all probably going to regret this," Mal said, "but let's be about the rescuing now. We still got a delivery to make and Alliance ships to avoid."

Her prayers had been answered.

Okay, a god hadn't personally decided to pick Kara up, but it was a ship. It wasn't another of those horror ships, but a human ship. Hell, she could actually see humans on the bridge. What's more, she actually recognized it.

It was Firefly.

Well, on second glance, it wasn't actually Firefly. For one thing, there was no way Commander Adama or President Roslyn were going to let Firefly leave the Fleet no matter how temporarily. The ship had suddenly become too valuable.

Secondly, Kara could actually see visible and obvious differences between Firefly and this ship. Whereas Firefly had a rusted, worn look about her even before the Colonial Holocaust, this ship practically shined as if it had just come out of a shipyard. There were also a few doodads attached that were different. But the two ships were very similar models, maybe even the same design.

After some discussion, the people on the other ship's bridge came to a decision. The ship adjusted its orientation slightly, raising its nose and presenting its front airlock to her. The front wall that the airlock door was placed in swung down, revealing itself to be a boarding ramp.

Kara hadn't realized that it could do that. She had wondered why Firefly's front airlock was so big. Then again, Firefly had never made planetfall since the Cylons nuked the Colonies.

Kara maneuvered herself back to Blackbird's cockpit. She reached in and pulled out the ship's hard drive. There might be something recoverable on it. Then she launched herself at the other ship's open airlock.

As she floated over, Kara wished she could bring Blackbird with her. But small as her ship was, it was just a little too big to fit in her rescuers' airlock. Still, if she could convince them, maybe Kara could get them to depressurize their cargo bay long enough to open both doors to get Blackbird aboard.

The ship's artificial gravity asserted itself the instant she crossed the threshold of the airlock. With the natural grace that made her the Fleet's finest pilot, Kara landed on her feet. As she did, the ramp closed behind her.

Kara felt her suit deflate as the airlock filled with air. Just to be safe for once, Kara pulled out her oxygen stick. It turned a satisfying green. With that, she immediately yanked her helmet off and inhaled fresh, well fresher air just as the inner airlock door cracked open.

Kara was greeted by three, disreputable people. The man in the middle was obviously the leader. A scruffy looking man with a goatee stood to his left and a dark skinned woman stood on his right. They all had some kind of gun in hand at the ready. They had the courtesy to not actually point the weapons at her.

Kara absently noted that there were several onlookers, but her attention was understandably focused on the three in front of her.

"Hi," Kara said in the friendliest tone she could muster. "Thanks for the lift and all." No response. They just looked at her. "Hey, uh, could you guys put the guns away? I'm no threat to you. Really, I'm not."

The man with the goatee looked confused and muttered something. The leader glanced at the woman and asked her a question. The woman gave a short, clipped reply.

Kara understood not a word they said.